A New Dawn
by Truthblade
Summary: First segment of my story, please review it : hope you like it!


Leif's story

Leif strolled along the rocky, winding path carrying what seemed like an endless supply of ore. Once his wood house came in view, he immediately noticed his dad pacing the stairs. "Where have you been!? You're a half hour late!" shouted his father. Leif rolled his eyes. "How fast do you expect a 15 year-old boy to carry ore?" "That is no way to talk to your father. You will be spending the rest of the day forging!" Leif's father yelled. Leif's shoulders sank and he wandered inside. Leif took a hammer and started outside to the anvil and forge. Leif had a dark tan from working outside so much, and his light brown hair had become a shade of chestnut. Leif forged all sorts of things, swords, shields, helmets, hammers and nails. Leif had always dreaded his future forging for the family business. Leif spent the rest of that hot, sweaty day forging and dreaming of wearing the equipment he makes in battle. He knew he was meant to do something more than forge for the rest of his life. Leif noticed the golden sun fading down the horizon. He sleepily wandered back to his room dreaming o fighting off the forces of evil. The next day, Leif woke up to a bitter cold morning. He slowly got out of bed and went to the kitchen hoping that his father would not be up yet. Of course, he was. "Leif, go to the market and pick up some roots." Leif started for the door. "Wait, bring the bow" he turned around slowly, a smile abroad his face. "I need 30 rawhide leather pelts. Don't come back without them." "Can I bring"- "Yes, bring a sword if you must." His father interrupted. Leif quickly ran out the door and picked his favorite feysteel sword and a stack of iron bodkin arrows. Leif quickly ran down the road and out into the wild.

Leif's eyes narrowed as he took aim at the deer. Thwap! The deer went down. Leif went and got the hide from the deer. Suddenly, Leif heard a cry coming from the town, along with a faint thump of drums. Leif shrugged. "_Probably drunks fighting at the festival again" _he thought to himself. Once Leif got all 30 hides he started for home, making sure he passed through town. As he turned the corner he found the town in ruins. Leif looked in horror as he saw all the heaps of debree. Leif dared not to look inside the houses, in fear of seeing dead friends. Leif sprinted through the town, and only slowed down when he was at the corner to his house. "MOM!DAD! NETTLEVILLE WAS DESTROYED! THE TOWN WAS DESTROYED!" Leif turned and saw his house with large scorch marks all over, one half of the house lying in a heap of planks. Leif sank to his knees sobbing. "mom……dad…" He was all alone now. Leif turned to a state of despair, than panic. "why….how….." he sobbed, his body trembling with depression. Suddenly, Leif saw movement from inside the house. Leif put his hand on the hilt of his sword and started for the door.

Leif opened the door and saw the furniture tossed every which way. Leif heard a noise in the kitchen. He crept closer to the door and saw an Orc throwing the contents of the drawers at the walls. Leif felt his eyes get hot. "YOU MONSTER!",Leif screamed and flung himself at the Orc. Hot tears nearly blinded Leif as he swung his arms wildly, knocking over what was left of the kitchen to the floor. The Orc easily threw Leif off against the wall and drew his battleaxe. Leif got up slowly and pulled the sword out of its sheath. The Orc just stood and studied Leif for a moment. Leif charged at the Orc again, but caught the Orc off guard. The Orc just barely managed to parry. But Leif was too quick. Leif moved in for a side blow. The blade met its\'s mark. The Orc fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Leif knew there was no way for his parents to still be alive if that Orc was still around, and didn't bother looking for them. Once Leif was out of the house he could still hear a faint heartbeat of drums in the distance. _I should have known they weren't festival drums! They must have been Orc battle drums._ Leif had nowhere to go. Leif felt a sudden wave of despair. _I guess the only thing to do is follow those drums! _Leif thought as he started down that familiar winding path, fighting off tears. Leif followed the drums for what seemed like days. Tired and depressed, Leif arrived at a crossroad, one sign pointing down the rocky road to the left, Oakmyst forest, the next pointing to a well paved road that lead to Eldaar Grove. Leif hesitated. His flame of hatred had now welted into a faint spark. Leif sighed. _I guess I will have to forget about them for now._ Leif sleepily walked down the road, awestruck at what he saw. Flowers spread through every crack and crevice, all different shades of the rainbow. The trees were huge and beautiful, there leaves a shade of magenta and chestnut brown, untouched by anything here. The stream was flowing throughout the grove, a brilliant shade of aquamarine. Leif strolled over to the nearest building, still gazing at the forest. "Hey! You there!" Leif spun around in surprise. "Who said that?" Leif heard a gravelly laugh. "Up here boy" Leif spun around again facing the building. He saw a small man leaning out the window. "You look lost, Where are you from?" the little man asked. "I'm from Nettleville. It was just destroyed by Orcs! This place is in danger!" The little man just chuckled. "Come in, Come in." Leif walked inside the building, perplexed. The building had a cozy feeling to it, paintings of amazing places hung about the room. There was a roaring fire in the center of the room with chairs and benches surrounding the fire. A bar was on the right of the building and stairs where behind the bar. The little man appeared down the stairs. "Welcome to my inn! I hope you like it." The little man said warmly. "My name is Sakju." Leif was getting impatient. "Hi, my name is Leif. Now you need to tell everyone to leave! You're all in danger!" Sakju ignored him "I'm a gnome. I presume you're a human?" Leif was taken aback. "you-you- you're a gnome! Wow nice to meet you. Yes I'm a human." Sakju smiled. "Welcome to Eldaar Grove inn." Leif snapped out of his gaze on the gnome. " You're in danger !" Sakju laughed again. "This place is protected by magic! We cannot be harmed here by evil." Leif rolled his eyes. "That would be great! And magical fairies live here too!" Leif said sarcastically. "Of course! there in the back." The little man said and whistled. Leif's jaw dropped as the fairies flooded the room from all the windows. "They-they EXIST!" Leif exclaimed as one landed on his shoulder. "But I know magic doesn't." Leif said defiantly. Sakju just smiled again. Sakju waved his hands and suddenly, they where glowing bright red. Leif watched in awe as Sakju walked over to fire, put his hands in the fire and pulled out a big ball of it and flung it out the window into the river. "Then explain that." The gnome said mocking Leif's defiance. Leif fell back wards into a chair. "Where did you learn to do that?" Leif exclaimed. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Can I learn this too?" Sakju suddenly turned very serious. "Magic is not a toy. You Can kill someone easily if you don't know how to use it. You will be talking to your friends, make a hand gesture when your talking and BOOM! There on fire." Leif ignored this comment. "Please teach it to me. I beg you from the bottom of my heart I have nothing left to loose!." Sakju hesitated. "Well I guess, but this will end up being your profession. The Qeynos guard may take you in even to join there army." Leif just became more anxious to start. Sakju saw the gleam in Leif's eyes at the mention of this. "Alright alright but we need to talk in more detail about this, so we will discuss it in the morning." Sakju took Leif up the stairs and stopped at room seven. He fumbled with the obviously newly polished lock and swung open the creaky old door to reveal Leif's room. Upon entering the room Leif was overwhelmed by the sweet but spicy scent of fresh cinnamon. The bed in the far left corner of this snug room was fairly large, with a rather expensive looking embroidered blanket spread across neatly on top of it. The wood that made up the bed itself looked like chestnut, gleaming from the glow the dancing fire. Paintings of far off lands and creatures lay across all of the walls, except for a space where a crescent window lay, giving the viewer a spectacular view of a maple tree, the leaves now just starting to turn that brilliant shade of orange. " Not bad" Leif said with a grin as he turned toward Sakju.


End file.
